Waveney Local Plan: Modifications

The Government-appointed Planning Inspector has found that the Waveney Local Plan satisfies the requirements of Section 20(5) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended) and meets the criteria for soundness set out in the National Planning Policy Framework, subject to a number of main modifications being incorporated into the plan.

Full Council will be asked to formally adopt the Waveney Local Plan as modified at a meeting on 20 March 2019.

This consultation has now closed

Responses to Main Modifications, Addendum to the Sustainability Appraisal Report and Habitats Regulations Screening Assessment will be sent in their entirety to the Inspector, who will consider them before he prepares his final report on the Waveney Local Plan.

Responses to the Additional Modifications and Schedule of Policies Map Changes will be considered by the Council.

The Waveney Local Plan is currently being examined by an Independent Planning Inspector. Following the close of public hearings in October, the Inspector wrote to the Council advising what modifications were likely to be required in order for the plan to be found ‘sound’. A consultation on these modifications ran until 5pm 28 January 2019.

This consultation was not an opportunity to re-state previous representations, as these were already considered as part of the examination. This was also not an opportunity to raise new objections to the submitted Local Plan. This consultation was purely on the modifications and it is only these which were available for comment.

All of the Main Modifications have been screened to test whether they would have any impact on the results of the Sustainability Appraisal Report. Where necessary, updates have been made to the conclusions. This exercise can be found in the Sustainability Appraisal Addendum Report which was also published for consultation alongside the Main Modifications.

All of the Main Modifications have been screened to test whether they would have any impact on the conclusions of the Waveney Local Plan Habitats Regulations Assessment. The Habitat Regulations Assessment has been republished in full to take into account the proposed Main Modifications and was subject to consultation alongside the Main Modifications.

Other documentation

Alongside the consultation on Main Modifications, the Council also published a number of proposed ‘Additional Modifications’ which it wished to make to the plan prior to adoption. These ‘Additional Modifications’ do not materially alter the policies of the plan and are generally minor clarifications, consequential amendments associated with the Main Modifications and corrections of factual errors in the supporting text of the plan. Please note the Inspector does not consider comments made on the additional modifications.

A number of changes were also proposed to the Policies Maps to take into account ‘Main Modifications’ and ‘Additional Modifications’ and to correct other errors noticed since publication. A schedule of policies map changeswas published together with revised policies maps (District, Lowestoft, Market Towns and Villages) incorporating the proposed changes.